Yet another bug was recently discovered and reportedly fixed on Facebook after it affected some 800,000 users by unblocking one or more blocked profiles on their Facebook accounts whom they had blocked earlier. On Monday, July 2, Facebook announced the update regarding a bug that tweaked the blocking app on Facebook that allows users to block someone with just a tap of a button. According to the reports, the bug affected the blocking app thereby affecting users on the main Facebook platform as well as Messenger app.
Further, the bug affected 800,000 users between May 29 and June 5 between which, the bug unblocked one or more blocked users from their respective profile. Of the total 800,000+ affected Facebook users, the bug unblocked at least one profile from 83% of the affected users while unblocking more than one users from the remaining 17% of the affected profiles.
As a default, when a user blocks someone, he/she isn’t able to see the content being shared by the user either within his/her friends, friends of friends, or even public. However, the bug accidentally unblocked these profiles thereby allowing it to peep through the profiles of those who blocked them, view their online activities and posts shared with ‘friends of friends’ and ‘public’. Facebook has started sending warning messages to the affected users while stating that it has already fixed the bug and the users who were blocked are now blocked again.
But the concern is, many people who have discovered that the people who blocked them had unblocked them, they must have taken advantage of the situation by going through their profiles and even send messages. People who have been indulged in abusing, harassing, stalking someone might have used the bug as a tool to connect with the victims thus causing problems in victim’s online lives. Per a report, four out of 10 Americans are victims of online harassment while a majority of people have reported being stalked, physically threatened on Facebook and more. Further, people of different colors are more susceptible to such horrendous acts while girls are twice as much susceptible to these online harassment activities compared to the boys of the same age group.
News regarding Facebook and its various scandals have been popping up in news channels, online news portals, and newspaper such as its use to spread Russian propaganda. One of the most recent scandals reported where Facebook was found involved was with a political research firm called Cambridge Analytica that acquired personal data from millions of Facebook users that were sold by Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook. The online social media giant has billions of users worldwide and it has been growing since its inception and yet, it has been one of the biggest nest or breeding ground for scandals and has been compromised online safety and privacy of its billion-plus user database.